Finsbury Estate

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Michael Cliffe House, Finsbury Estate Michael Cliffe House, Finsbury Estate - geograph.org.uk - 1498844.jpg
Michael Cliffe House, Finsbury Estate

Finsbury Estate is a large-scale housing estate in the Clerkenwell area of London, England (in the former Borough of Finsbury), comprising four purpose-built blocks of flats located on a level site, providing 451 residences. Patrick Coman House and Michael Cliffe House are high-rise blocks of 9 and 25 storeys respectively, while Joseph Trotter House and Charles Townsend House are of four storeys. Amenities include a community centre and library, below-ground car parking, a ball-games area and a playground area. Islington Council received lottery-money funding to develop a new Islington Museum which opened beneath the library on the estate in 2008. [1] A former museum at the Islington Town Hall closed on 15 December 2006. [2]

Contents

Architecture

Finsbury Estate is a 'mixed development' of the High Modern period. It was designed by Emberton, Franck & Tardrew in 1965 for Finsbury Borough Council, though completed after Finsbury had been absorbed into the new Metropolitan Borough of Islington. Franck had worked for Tecton, and there are similarities with the architecture of Tecton estates such as Spa Green Estate, as pointed out by the Survey of London. Through the configuration of the four blocks, two large open spaces have been created, characterized by two predominant inward-looking convex spaces defined by the surrounding blocks of flats. Main entrances to the estate are on St John Street, where the Finsbury Library is located, and on Skinner Street to the south-west.

Accommodation

Controversies

Michael Cliffe House was a venue for suicide by jumping [3] until access to high open balconies was restricted. [4]

Cultural associations

Crime

EC1/Easy Cash is a gang based on the Bourne, Margery Street, Kings Square and Finsbury estates.

In 2014, the police smashed their way into three flats in Patrick Coman House, on the Finsbury Estate, off St John’s Way. In one, where two women and a newborn baby were sleeping, officers found a shotgun, a large hunting knife, a flick knife and a rucksack with more than 100 wraps and a “massive lump” of crack cocaine with an estimated street value of up to £100,000.

Nearby London Underground stations

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References

  1. About Islington Museum Archived 2011-09-16 at the Wayback Machine at Islington Council official website
  2. Islington Museum at Creative Space Agency.[Accessed 9 January 2001]
  3. Picture of Michael Cliffe House at Flickr.com
  4. Sharron Kelly (residents' representative) Tower block leaps at Islington Tribune, Letters to the Editor, 11 July 2008

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